A family tradition of mine, is to make Banana Nut Bread loafs and bring them to family members on Christmas Eve. I thought I would share our family recipe with you, vegan style! The loafs make great gifts, especially if they are made into mini loafs! They can also be combined with other holiday treats for a scrumptious gift. Check out our other vegan recipes.

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar together. In another bowl, make the Egg Replacer into the equvalent of 2 eggs. Add in the margarine to the egg replacer. Peel the bananas and mush them together with the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until smooth. Add in the walnuts and stir together. Use some margarine and rub into two loaf pans or 6 mini loaf pans. Pour batter into the loafs and bake for 60 minutes. Let cool and serve or wrap for gifts! If bananas are not holiday enough you can substitute with 2 cups of cranberries and add some orange zest!

Similar to our Eco-Friendly and Vegan Gift Guides, we put together some websites and suggestions for the Fair Trade enthusiast on your list! Or use the guide to purchase gifts for your friends and family who you would love to introduce Fair Trade to!

On top of these websites, you may be able to locate a Fair Trade store in your area. Check out the Fair Trade Federation website to locate stores in your area.

The following list is some great holiday fair trade gift ideas we suggest:

1) Fair Trade Gift Packs: Put together a gift basket of fair trade goodies such as coffee, tea, chocolate, and cocoa(even your basket can be fair trade!). Maybe even add in fair trade dishes to go along. You should be able to find these products at your local food co-op or natural foods store. You can also find pre-made baskets at many of the websites above or directly through fair trade coffee vendors such as Equal Exchange, Grounds For Change, or Dean’s Beans. Also, Grounds for Change offers a Coffee a Month gift. So your loved one can enjoy fair trade coffee all year long!

2) Fair Trade Wine: There is a new and great Fair Trade wine company called Etica. Their wines are all Fair Trade certified and you can find them on their website or in your local area. Or you can purchase a pre-made wine basket from Eco-Express. Fair Trade wine is hard to come by, so you are sure to impress the fair trade enthusiast on your list. Plus everyone loves a great bottle of wine!

3) Hand Made Artisan Crafts: One of the great items of Fair Trade, is handmade artisan gifts. Several great websites and organizations sell handmade gifts from scarves to mugs and even jewelery. All these items make great gifts! Check out the websites above for more ideas. The time and love that goes into these products is sure to make a lasting impression on the craftsmanship of the product as well as the receiver!

Have any vegans on your list and aren’t sure what to get them? We have compiled some quick hints and suggestions for great vegan holiday gifts! Whether your shopping for a new vegan or a seasoned veteran, here are some great ideas for this holiday season!

There are awesome online vegan stores that carry tons of vegan products ranging from food to clothing. Some great ones worth checking out are Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe, Vegan Karma, Sidecar for Pigs Peace, Moo Shoes, Pangea and Vegan Essentials. That is a great place to start when choosing gifts for a vegan loved one!And if you aren’t quite sure what they would love, a gift certificate to any of these stores would be wonderful!

We put together a short list of great ideas to give vegans come this holiday:

1)Vegan Treats: The true and fastest way to a vegan’s heart is through their stomach! You can easily put together a basket of vegan products such as cookies, candies, or fake jerky. You could even include some vegan wines. If you make a trip to your local food co-op or natural food store there are plenty of great snacks to fill a basket with. Also, you can find pre-made vegan goodie baskets at many of the websites listed above. If you prefer to make your own goodies, we suggest you bake or cook a delicious vegan treat. There are many easy and fun recipes you could make! Check out some of our own vegan recipes.

2) Vegan Cookbooks: As we mentioned above, vegans LOVE food! And they really love new recipes they can try out for home or for entertainment. A few great books that we suggest are Vegan Planet, Vegan Vittles, and How It All Vegan . There are tons of other great vegan cookbooks out there as well! And who knows?? Maybe they will thank you by cooking YOU some scrumptious vegan goodies!

3) Basket of Vegan Beauty Products: When someone says the word vegan, most people think of food. But there are so many other products that could contain animal products, including bath and beauty items. Another great gift idea is to put together a basket of bath and beauty items like lotions, bath salts, make-up, and even shampoos! You can most likely find these products at your local food co-op, natural food store, and any of the sites listed above! Make sure to read the label and look for items that say “Does not contain animal products,” “Not tested on animals” or “Certified Vegan.” There are a number of brands that are known to be vegan, check out this guide to help you know which ones are okay. Also, you can find pre-made baskets at most of the vegan stores above or check out Vegan Pimp and Garuda International.

4) Gift Certificate to a Vegan Restaurant: Another great and quick gift guide is to buy a gift certificate to a local vegan restaurant! Again, any vegan would love to enjoy a free meal! You can buy one for your loved one’s favorite restaurant or maybe a new one they haven’t tried yet. Find your local vegan and vegetarian restaurants at Happy Cow!

Now that the holidays are here, we wanted to focus our recipes on vegan baked goods, especially the traditional Christmas ones! This recipe is easy to do and fudge makes a great gift! You can add all sorts of items to make your fudge unique or festive. Some great suggestions are almonds, pecans, candy canes, nutmeg, Ricemellow Creme, peanut butter and pumpkin! Today we are going to post two recipes! One a traditional Fudge Recipe and White Chocolate Fudge! Trust us, both are to die for and given together they make a beautiful gift!

In a baking pan use some of the margarine to rub around the pan, to make sure your fudge doesn’t stick. Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder together in a mixing bowl and mix in the chocolate chips. Heat up the remaining margarine and soymilk in a saucepan. Once the milk gets to a boil, slowly add in the chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar into the pan. Make sure you are slowly stirring until all is melted and blended well. At this point turn down the stove and add in the vanilla and nuts. Mix up the fudge and immeadiately pour into your baking pan. Spread the mixture out and let cool for at least 6 hours. Cut into small squares

Use a little margarine to grease a baking pan or casserole dish. In a large mixing bowl thouroughly mix or beat with an electric mixer the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. In a small saucepan heat the soy milk and white chocolate chips. Be sure to stir constantly, as not to burn the chocolate. Once the chocolate is smooth, add in the chocolate to the mixture. Add in cherries or crushed candy. Place the mixture in the baking pan and cool for at least 6 hours. Once cooled, cut into small squares and enjoy!

Our website has gone through a major make-over and we invite you to check it out and let us know what you think! We’ve got tons more info, easier navigation, store locations, plus lots of opportunities on how you guys can help Autonomie spread its wings. Go to www.autonomieproject.com and happy browsing 😉

And, is if you could forget, the holiday season is here! While checking out our new digs, make sure to visit our Shop pages and pick up a few things for everyone on your list. Autonomie’s products make excellent gifts and are the best way to help your friends and family support Fair Trade and make a positive change in today’s increasingly challenging world. Stocks are selling out FAST, so don’t hesitate and shop now!

Not sure what to get or what size they wear? Make sure to check out our selection of Gift Cards! Our gift cards come in a variety of dollar amounts from $10 to $250 and can be sent electronically, making this holiday a little more stress-free, especially for all you procrastinators out there!

Last month, we had a blast at Coop America’s San Francisco Green Festival! As usual, this event was amazing. 3 days chock full of excellent speakers, great friends to network with, and tons of excellent shopping. And check out these crowds…. even with tempting beautiful weather all weekend, thousands of you made it over to the Concourse Center to go green and support ethical companies like Autonomie.

This weekend, we’re psyched to head back out to the West Coast to hang out in the Villa at the Eco Gift Festival! This Santa Monica festival’s mission is to provide an uplifting and ethical holiday experience as well as a solution to the difficult emotions, inconveniences and terrible waste associated with the holidays and holiday shopping.

The event takes place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Main Street THIS Friday, Saturday and Sunday December 12-14. So if you’re in the LA-area, we hope you’ll take the time to stop by and say hi. Tickets are only $10, or $20 for the entire weekend! We’ll be in booth 438 located in the tent just outside the Auditorium selling our sneaks, tees and bags and bringing some good old-fashioned Fair Trade lovin’ to Southern California. Hope to see you there!

Holiday consuming takes over our lives in December, so why not give while you get? You heard me right, Giving is the New Getting! We can’t help but blush and brag about our good friends at eConscious Market. Founded in 2007, eConscious Market is an online

shopping center that not only offers the brightest and best of social and eco-friendly products on the market, but with every purchase at least 10% is given to the Non-Profit of your choice. Once you make a purchase you can choose from a list of non profits to donate to or you can just have them donate to their featured non-profit.

All of the products featured on their website are environmentally and socially friendly. In fact eConscious Market does the screening for you and all their products are held to specific standards. So you can be sure the products you are purchasing are legitimately green and fair trade!

As we mentioned before the new Getting is Giving and since the holidays are here what better way to spend your money than on eco and socially responsible products while giving to a deserving non profit in one easy step! After all Tis the Season to Give!! So do it at eConscious today!!